Welcome to the Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis. We are an interdisciplinary, basic science research department with faculty laboratories and resources located primarily in Smithville, Texas but also in Houston, Texas. Our research aims to define the mechanisms that control normal cell proliferation, differentiation, survival and genome maintenance to identify the processes that drive cancer.

Leadership in Basic Science Research and Education

As one of six basic science departments at MD Anderson, with faculty members in both Houston and Smithville, the Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis makes substantial contributions to the research and education missions of the institution. Departmental faculty provide leadership to one of the major basic science programs within institutional Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) from the NCI: the Program in Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics. This grant helps support the research both within the department and across the institution, especially with respect to providing funding for many of our departmental and institutional research support facilities and cores.

Finally, our departmental faculty, trainees and staff further unite the Houston and Science Park campuses through their involvement in the University of Texas Health Science Center/MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) basic science research Ph.D. program, Genetics and Epigenetics. This program includes faculty in both Houston and at Science Park and is aimed at defining the basic biological mechanisms underlying disease and development using model organisms, with the goal of translating these findings into human medical treatments. The graduate program holds an annual retreat, which promotes inter-campus interaction, collaboration and comaraderie.

Science Park Smithville

Most of our faculty members conduct their research at The Virginia
Harris Cockrell Cancer Research Center at Science Park.

State-of-the-Art Shared Resources

Department faculty direct several shared resources, including the NIH Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) supported Sequencing and Microarray Facility in Houston and the Science Park Research Animal Support Facility (RASF-S), which itself is related to several core services including the Research Histology, Pathology and Imaging Core as well as Laboratory Animal Genetic Services. The DNA Methylation and Analysis core in Houston is also part of our department. Other shared campus resources include a Molecular Biology Core, a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)-funded Next-Generation Sequencing Core, a CPRIT-funded Protein Array and Analysis Core and a CRPIT-funded Flow Cytometry and Cellular Imaging Core (FCCIC). Bioinformatics and biostatistics support is also available on-site to our researchers.